Local authorities, RDAs and other public sector bodies always have great stories to tell, but are often not particularly adept at doing so.
In the last year, I have written for Birmingham City Council, the Core Cities Group, the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence, and Wolverhampton Science Park.
Each was delighted with my work, and renewed our relationship following the initial commission.
One way to avoid the hackneyed use of ‘he said, he said’ is to write in the first person, as with the below opening paragraphs of a comment column for Building Design, on behalf of BCC’s regeneration and planning director, Clive Dutton.
"Design is at the heart of everything we plan to do as we create a city centre fit for the 21st century, but not for its own sake."
"Yes - we want to see imposing, eye-catching and inspirational architecture, which will position Birmingham as one of Western Europe’s leading cities."
"No - we will never place form over function, however seductive such an approach may sometimes be."
"The architectural practice chosen to design our new £190 million Central Library, must create a structure which will become an iconic landmark."
"However, the proposals must also give Birmingham a building which is precisely fit for purpose."
Building Design magazine - June 2008
Design is at the heart of everything we plan to do as we create a city centre fit for the 21st century, but not design for its own sake.
Yes - we want to see imposing and eye-catching and inspirational architecture, which will position Birmingham as one of Western Europe’s leading cities.
No - we will never place form over function, however seductive such an approach may sometimes be.
Seven world-class architectural practices are competing to design our new £193 million Central Library, and the successful candidate will have to create a structure which will become an iconic landmark.
However, their proposals will also have to provide Birmingham with a building which is precisely fit for purpose.
The new complex will be the largest public library and archive in Western Europe, and we see it as a seminal moment in our city’s regeneration.
Birmingham has long been a Non-Conformist city, and we are determined to attract architects whose designs are thoughtful, inventive and pioneering.
Those urban designers who move forward with us though, must be able to create architecture which also has global relevance.
I’m not interested by what is happening in other provincial cities in the UK.
Our benchmark may once have been Manchester, Glasgow or Liverpool, but now it is Helsinki, Barcelona and Stockholm.
A century ago, many of the world’s greatest architects went to such cities as Budapest, Prague, Vienna and Zagreb, for the chance to create a new generation of inspirational buildings.
Now we want to see their peers putting Birmingham squarely on their agenda as both a great place to be, and as a great city which is reinventing itself.
The quality of our built environment has already improved significantly, thanks to the presence of several tremendously talented architects.
Birmingham’s own Glenn Howells‘ work on Ballymore‘s spectacular Snowhill scheme has placed him at the forefront of the new urban thinkers.
Birmingham-born Ken Shuttleworth’s concept for the Mailbox’s sister building - the Cube - has rightly drawn international praise and admiration, for both its boldness and visual appeal.
Eric Kuhne is one of the world’s great architectural visionaries, and his towering V Building skyscraper, for Dandara, is eagerly awaited.
We are also delighted that Denton Corker Marshall are coming to Birmingham, to create a new 15-storey magistrates court complex at Masshouse.
And in June, we expect to announce the preferred designer for the new £600 million New Street Station complex.
With at least £17 billion of city centre schemes already granted permission, or at the pre-planning stage, there are also many more such opportunities ahead.
However, we well realise that our vision for Birmingham can not be delivered without the support of architects, advisers, agents, and our many other private sector partners.
Above all, they need clarity, certainty and consistency, which is why we are bringing forward our Big City Plan.
Put simply, we see this as the key masterplanning strategy which will offer Birmingham - for the first time in its long history - a compass to navigate by.
The Urban Initiatives-led consortium has been working on the plan since last autumn, and their assessments will be going out to wide consultations inside the next two months.
This won’t be a planners’ plan though, but a guide to the future city centre, in terms of economic development, sustainability and land use.
According to the Mercer Quality of Living Survey, Birmingham is the 55th most desirable place to be in the world, and only two British cities - London and Edinburgh - are rated higher.
Over the next fifteen to 20 years, we aim to be in Mercer’s Top Twenty, and believe that the Big City Plan can help take us there, by bringing forward key projects to form the visual DNA of our city.
Our benchmark will be Hamburg, a traditional Northern European industrial city of comparable size and similar latitude, which has steadily and consistently reinvented itself.
Using the Big City Plan as our equivalent of ‘sat-nav’, and with our private sector partners alongside us, we aim to create a new Birmingham; inspired by a marriage of form and function, and driven by the desire to put our city firmly on the global stage.
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